V Weapons Hunt
V Weapons Hunt

Author: Roy M. Stanley

Publisher: Casemate Publishers

Published: 2010-08-19

Total Pages: 514

ISBN-13: 1783033363

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The V-1 and much larger V-2 rockets added a terrifying extra dimension to the Second World War. Once launched there was little that could stop the V-1s and nothing to prevent the V-2s from reaching their targets. Both were indiscriminate and struck with little or no warning. Their destructive power was awesome but it was their psychological impact on the defenseless civil population that posed such a threat to morale.This remarkable book tells, through words and images, the story of the Allied discovery, understanding and campaign against the Vengeance weapons. Written by a trained intelligence analyst and aerial photo interpreter, V Weapons Hunt picks out the air photographs that found the breakthrough in this vital campaign. The reader sees the first sighting of a V-1 flying bomb at the Peenemunde research facility, weapon launch sites, production facilities as well as the damage caused by Allied raids.This is a scholarly and authoritative work which lifts the lid on how Allied intelligence provided the information to defeat this insidious threat before it caused not only massive destruction but the delay of the Normandy invasion.

Hannibal
Hannibal

Author: Patrick Hunt

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2017-07-11

Total Pages: 384

ISBN-13: 1439102171

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One of the greatest commanders of the ancient world brought vividly to life: Hannibal, the brilliant general who successfully crossed the Alps with his war elephants and brought Rome to its knees. Hannibal Barca of Carthage, born 247 BC, was one of the great generals of the ancient world. Historian Patrick N. Hunt has led archeological expeditions in the Alps and elsewhere to study Hannibal's achievements. Now he brings Hannibal's incredible story to life in this book

Pale Horse Coming
Pale Horse Coming

Author: Stephen Hunter

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2008-08-26

Total Pages: 708

ISBN-13: 1416593640

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In 1951, after Sam Vincent disappears while investigating a prison for violent African American convicts in Thebes, Mississippi, Earl Swagger finds himself confronting a town guarded by a private army of brutal, Klan-type thugs.

J. L. Austin
J. L. Austin

Author: M. W. Rowe

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2023-05-11

Total Pages: 681

ISBN-13: 0198707584

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The first biography of the philosopher who became a mastermind of Allied intelligence in World War Two. Austere, witty, and formidable, J. L. Austin (1911-1960) was the leader of Oxford Ordinary Language Philosophy and the founder of speech-act theory. This book--the first full-length biography of Austin--enhances our understanding of his dominance in 1950s Oxford, examining the significance of his famous Saturday morning seminars, and his sometimes tense relationships with Gilbert Ryle, Isaiah Berlin, A. J. Ayer, and Elizabeth Anscombe. Throwing new light on Austin's own intellectual development, it probes the strengths and weaknesses of his mature philosophy, and reconstructs his late unpublished work on sound symbolism. Austin's philosophical work remains highly influential, but much less well known is his outstanding contribution to British Intelligence in World War Two. The twelve central chapters thus investigate Austin's part in the North African campaign, the search for the V-weapons, the preparations for D-Day, the Battle of Arnhem, and the Ardennes Offensive, and show that, in the case of D-Day, he played a major role in the ultimate Allied victory. While exploring Austin's dramatic and romantic personal history, Rowe pays close attention to his harsh schooling and pre-war affair with a married Frenchwoman; his wartime marriage, bomb injury, and response to a colleague's murder; and his post-war family life, the growing influence of America, and his tragically premature death. Adding considerably to our knowledge of World War Two, and Austin's diverse and enduring influence, this biography reveals the true complexity of his character, and the full range and significance of his achievements.

12 Seconds of Silence
12 Seconds of Silence

Author: Jamie Holmes

Publisher: Mariner Books

Published: 2020

Total Pages: 437

ISBN-13: 1328460126

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The riveting story of the American scientists, tinkerers, and nerds who solved one of the biggest puzzles of World War II--and developed one of the most powerful weapons of the war.​ 12 Seconds of Silence is the remarkable, lost story of how a rag tag group of American scientists overcame one of the toughest problems of World War II: Shooting things out of the sky. Working in a secretive organization known as Section T, a team of physicists, engineers, and everyday Joes and Janes created one of the world's first "smart weapons"--the proximity fuse. The tiny gadget allowed an artillery shell to "know" when to explode to bring down an aircraft. Against overwhelming odds and in a race against time, mustering every scrap of resource, ingenuity, and insight, the scientists of Section T would eventually save countless lives, rescue the city of London from the onslaught of a Nazi superweapon, and help bring about the Axis defeat. A holy grail sought after by Allied and Axis powers alike, the fuse ranks with the atomic bomb as one of the most revolutionary technologies of the Second World War. Until now, its tale was largely untold. For fans of Erik Larson and Ben Macintyre, set amidst the fog of espionage, dueling spies, and the dawn of an age when science would determine the fate of the world, 12 Seconds of Silence is a tribute to the extraordinary wartime mobilization of American science and the ultimate can-do story.

Selling Schweinfurt
Selling Schweinfurt

Author: Brian Vlaun

Publisher: Naval Institute Press

Published: 2019-10-15

Total Pages: 277

ISBN-13: 1682474674

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A common theme of airpower histories is that the Combined Bomber Offensive was the proving ground for a post-war independent air force. Whether or not the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) could perform to the hype of its interwar doctrine, Allied commanders based their rival approaches to victory in Europe on their differing views of independent airpower. However, there is an essential, yet overlooked facet to this story: commanders' convictions alone could not hold sway within the War Department, much less at the politically and bureaucratically charged meetings of the Combined Chiefs of Staff. The air commanders pressed their staffs for decision-quality assessments and photographic evidence to sell their arguments and project their progress. They needed informed targeting plans and objective post-raid reports as well as an air-intelligence enterprise to mature all-too-quickly out of interwar neglect. What they received--and Brian Vlaun explains--was a collision of organizational interests and leadership personalities that shaped Ira Eaker's command of the Eighth Air Force in 1943, the tumultuous air campaign over Germany, and the path of the post-war U.S. Air Force. As a result of the author's research through thousands of declassified files, Selling Schweinfurt examines the relationships between air-intelligence organizations and key decision-makers. His analysis spans from pre-war planning and doctrine development, through the Eighth Air Force's independent air campaign, and culminates with the formation of the United States Strategic Air Forces and its 1944 pre-invasion preparations. This book concludes that military organizations, if left unchecked, may adopt symbols and exaggerate claims to justify their own preferences and market their ideas in ways that mask their optimistic assumptions. In the case of the air campaign against Germany, both the four-engine bomber and specialized targets--like Schweinfurt's ball bearings--served as symbols and powerful marketing tools for the AAF and air intelligence, respectively.